Irvine-based Quality Systems Inc. showed off several aspects of its business this month at an analyst meeting.
Quality makes software that doctors and dentists use to manage their practices. It also offers electronic medical records software for smaller hospitals.
Chief Executive Steve Plochocki and several company officials mixed it up during the meeting.
Plochocki started things off by laying out a goal of taking Quality’s annual sales from $460 million to $1 billion.
Chief Operating Officer Daniel Morefield followed with a presentation on how Quality has changed how it operates.
“This company has traditionally run in the manner of multiple independent benefit units under one portfolio company’s approach,” Morefield said. “… But the market has changed and continues to change on us.”
Quality now is running as one business unit with multiple divisions, Morefield said.
He said the old way of running Quality worked when it was going after a specific set of customers, such as smaller medical or dental practices. Now the company is geared to sell various products to larger customers, including doctors’ groups, smaller hospital operators and other providers.
“… Today what we find is that our customers cross business lines,” Morefield said. “And today, instead of having an independent sale, we’re talking about selling of multiple product lines across our divisions to be able to go after specific clients, and we’re seeing early successes in that.”
Monte Sandler, Quality’s vice president for revenue cycle management services, followed Morefield on the program. Quality has recently made some deals to get deeper into revenue-cycle management, which uses software and computers for coding and documenting insurance claims to help doctors manage payments and cash flow.
“The industry statistics say that more than 25% to 30% of lost practice income is as a result of poor billing practices,” Sandler said. “That’s what we focus on.”
Doctors’ offices and hospitals contract with Quality for revenue cycle management. Sandler said one of the advantages to using the service is that it allows doctors to do what they’re trained to do.
“Physicians and practices are focused on treating patients, adopting [electronic health records], achieving meaningful use, preparing [for new Medicare billing codes],” he said. “They have a lot of things that they’re dealing with, and there’s an opportunity to [use] experts to manage the back office.”
In other Quality Systems news, its NextGen Healthcare Information Systems LLC subsidiary signed a deal with Fillmore County Hospital in Geneva, Neb. NextGen is providing its NextGen Inpatient Clinicals and NextGen Inpatient Financials software to Fillmore County under the deal.
AltaMed Adds in OC
Los Angeles-based AltaMed Health Services is beefing up its Orange County presence by building clinics and extending hours of existing facilities. AltaMed is a nonprofit operator of what’s known as “federally qualified health centers,” which serve as safety-net providers of healthcare services to people who are uninsured or underinsured.
AltaMed said it’s going to move one of its three Santa Ana clinics to a larger space near Central Avenue and Bristol Street in July. The expansion will more than double the clinic’s examination rooms, allow it to hire four more doctors and add internal medicine, women’s health services, radiology and pharmacy.
Other expansion-related moves for AltaMed include longer hours and additional personnel at some of its clinics.
The provider said patient visits at its Orange County clinics over the past three years have collectively grown by 34%.
AltaMed also opened a new pharmacy in Anaheim.
Bits and Pieces:
Irvine-based PathCentral Inc. said that the pathology and microbiology department at the University of Nebraska Medical Center is the latest participant in its new digital pathology network. The network is an online information and digital consultation forum for customers. Separately, the company said it was named a finalist in the 2013 American Technology Awards sponsored by Washington, D.C.-based TechAmerica Foundation. PathCentral is a finalist in the awards’ health and medical technologies category. … Fountain Valley-based hospital operator MemorialCare Health System said its hospitals received an “A” safety score from the San Francisco-based Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit organization run by employers and large buyers of health benefits. MemorialCare owns Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center in Fountain Valley and Saddleback Memorial Medical Center, which has campuses in Laguna Hills and San Clemente. … Harold Andrews, chief financial officer of Irvine-based healthcare real estate investor Sabra Health Care REIT Inc., is presenting this week at the Barclays High Yield Bond and Syndicated Loan Conference in New York.
